From their FAQ:
Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.
Should I be concerned about Dihydrogen Monoxide?
Yes, you should be concerned about DHMO! Although the U.S. Government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) do not classify Dihydrogen Monoxide as a toxic or carcinogenic substance (as it does with better known chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and saccharine), DHMO is a constituent of many known toxic substances, diseases and disease-causing agents, environmental hazards and can even be lethal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide! Don't let the FDA allow this in our food!
Help keep the world safe from DHMO! (http://www.dhmo.org/)
Ban DHMO now!
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BossTamsin (imported)
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A-1 (imported)
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Tomas (imported)
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Re: Ban DHMO now!
Uh, Di Hydrogen Mon(o) Oxide = 2 Hydrogen atoms and 1 Oxygen atom = H2O = water.
Everything said in the first post is true.
The DHMO site has been around for several years, and is a nice tongue-in-cheek take-off on all the wailing and moaning we hear about many other substances ...
Tom
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A-1 (imported)
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Tomas (imported)
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Re: Ban DHMO now!
Reminds me of a bogus lab report a small group of us turned in to our biology instructor many years ago (about 40?). This was in addition to our REAL labs, and just as a sort of tongue-in-cheek for our instructor. He enjoyed it.
I'll have to set this up just a bit first, by reminding you that the testing done on animals to see if a chemical is dangerous is often (usually) done using incredible overdoses to hurry the process along. Things like giving lab animals 500 to 3000 times the "normal" doses by weight.
What we did was to make up a short series of lab tests to check on the toxicity of DHMO (pure distilled water).
To make a long story short, we reported that the experiment had to be terminated after the chemical was found to be "fatal when ingested" to 32 of the 32 mice on hand for the project: Every one of them had spontaneously exploded at some point when being force-fed the initial 1000X daily dose of the DHMO. (Essentially trying to force about a pint of water into each mouse ... )
The findings of the project, of course, included that ingesting water, even pure distilled water, was 100 percent fatal to mice, and therefore water was highly poisonous, and probably should not be ingested by humans until further tests could be made to confirm or deny it's extreme toxicity.
Etc., etc.
(In reality, no mice were harmed in our testing, and in fact one of the, uh, "test subjects" ended up living in a nice terrarium at my place for several years - Priscilla was a nice little mouse ...
)
Tom
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I'll have to set this up just a bit first, by reminding you that the testing done on animals to see if a chemical is dangerous is often (usually) done using incredible overdoses to hurry the process along. Things like giving lab animals 500 to 3000 times the "normal" doses by weight.
What we did was to make up a short series of lab tests to check on the toxicity of DHMO (pure distilled water).
To make a long story short, we reported that the experiment had to be terminated after the chemical was found to be "fatal when ingested" to 32 of the 32 mice on hand for the project: Every one of them had spontaneously exploded at some point when being force-fed the initial 1000X daily dose of the DHMO. (Essentially trying to force about a pint of water into each mouse ... )
The findings of the project, of course, included that ingesting water, even pure distilled water, was 100 percent fatal to mice, and therefore water was highly poisonous, and probably should not be ingested by humans until further tests could be made to confirm or deny it's extreme toxicity.
Etc., etc.
(In reality, no mice were harmed in our testing, and in fact one of the, uh, "test subjects" ended up living in a nice terrarium at my place for several years - Priscilla was a nice little mouse ...
)Tom
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